MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Two first patients treated for Ebola virus in US hospital have been released
The two United States aid workers who were the first patients ever to be treated for the Ebola virus at a hospital in the US have been released, capping a transcontinental medical drama that stirred public debate about whether citizens with the virus or exposed to the virus should have been allowed to return. Read full article
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Disclaimer & comment rulesI'm not a religious man, but this guy apparently gave up his dose of the experimental drug for his lady partner and chose to put his faith in his god.
Aug 22nd, 2014 - 01:32 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Well it seems that his faith was rewarded, agree or disagree with his beliefs, he's a courageous guy, who risked his life to help others and I for one am glad he recovered.
You would not get me within a mile of an Ebola ward and I suspect I am not the only one on here.
One expert claimed he'd quite happily sit next to an Ebola sufferer on the tube.
Aug 22nd, 2014 - 03:28 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Not sure I'd be that confident but it seems to be harder to catch than we are lead to believe. I don't think Africans help themselves when they do things like giving the corpse a cuddle to say goodbye.
It's a cultural thing and nothing is more difficult to change than culture.
Aug 22nd, 2014 - 05:15 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Who am I a middle classed European to tell a less fortunate person, African or not, what to do?
You can advise from your ivory tower, but do not be surprised if it does if your not listened to!
It's a heartbreaking fact, that many more thousands will die, before attitudes will change.
It's also a heartbreaking fact, that after 40 years, only the threat of this disease spreading to us as spurred a research for a cure in the laboratories were it can be found.
They say you can only catch the disease from personal contact, which is probably true, they said the same about Aids, but it took more than a decade to believe!
@2 spread by bodily fluids?I don't think I would be quite confident of using the bogs on an air flight from West Africa
Aug 22nd, 2014 - 05:46 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Somebody sneezes within your space, aerosol particles, you inhale those particles.
Aug 22nd, 2014 - 05:54 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Happens everywhere, every day, thats how colds spread, aircraft even recirculates the air in the passenger cabin.
Is that an exchange?
I don't know.
Did the American medics kiss! Their patients?
I doubt it, they were medics.
How did they “exchange” bodily fluids?
I don't know.
I'm just saying!
West Africa and it was starting out in east central Africa. It's scary the way they think Ebola migrating.....from bats.
Aug 22nd, 2014 - 06:13 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Did it come from bats? I thought it was from monkeys, anyway, from bush meat.
Aug 22nd, 2014 - 06:24 pm - Link - Report abuse 0No surprise since the last flu epidemic originated in birds.
WTF is going on, diseases jumping species?
A good reason to be vegetarian I suppose, but that's not going to be any help, if the guy sitting next to you on the plane, is a monkey, bat eating carnivore!
@6 I thought it was monkeys that started all this not bats, though vampire could well be a way of secondary transmission.
Aug 22nd, 2014 - 06:25 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Its a killer, that's for sure,
Aug 22nd, 2014 - 06:43 pm - Link - Report abuse 0governments, should take immediate action or suffer the consequences,
we have been warned..
““I am forever thankful to God for sparing my life,””
Aug 22nd, 2014 - 07:52 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Mmmm. So who “gave” him the virus: the dastardly Devil?
Or was it careless hygiene techniques that allowed virus infected bodily fluids to invade his system?
I think we all know the answer to that one.
Good result though, a lot will be learnt by the people treating him as to how to deal with infected patients.
@1
Aug 22nd, 2014 - 07:55 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“Well it seems that his faith was rewarded”
As non religious - you should perhaps recognise that his recovery was aided by his general health, immune resilience - prompt standard medical care for infectious diseases, and perhaps the medication - not properly trialled.
The natural host is suspected to be the fruit bat, considered a delicacy as 'bushmeat' , therefore the medium of transmission.
http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/aug/04/ebola-risk-guinea-fruit-bats
Similar to the suspected inter species transmission of HIV/AIDS.
http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/aug/04/ebola-risk-guinea-fruit-bats
It is worrying as population increases without control, and humanity abuses antibiotics to control bacterial infections rendering them also ineffective - the principal threat may well be from viruses, which are curious and unique entities -
“Opinions differ on whether viruses are a form of life, or organic structures that interact with living organisms. They have been described as ”organisms at the edge of life“,[8] since they resemble organisms in that they possess genes and evolve by natural selection,[57] and reproduce by creating multiple copies of themselves through self-assembly. Although they have genes, they do not have a cellular structure, which is often seen as the basic unit of life. Viruses do not have their own metabolism, and require a host cell to make new products. They therefore cannot naturally reproduce outside a host cell[58] ”
http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/aug/04/ebola-risk-guinea-fruit-bats
Perhaps humanity is approaching a threshold, where like bacteria multiplying to fully contaminate a petri dish, a culling is inevitable.
However, before that event - will Argentina pay it's debts ; )
Your probably right. As a healthy western fit man with the disease caught in its early stages, he probably did stand a better chance of surviving the disease than his patients did.
Aug 22nd, 2014 - 08:10 pm - Link - Report abuse 0As a doctor, he probably knows the above better than you.
How does a Christian doctor reconcile his belief in a merciful god, with suffering?
That wasn't my point though, like Chris I believe in no god, we are here for now, then we leave, simple as that.
What I am saying is, if a person has a belief system, that's their privelage and if it gives them courage, so be it.
It's a shame they do not show me the same respect.
Agreed.
Aug 22nd, 2014 - 08:30 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Your comment.
“You would not get me within a mile of an Ebola ward and I suspect I am not the only one on here.”
From your previous post - dealing with fatal RTA'S - if you are serving (or former) Police, I'm sure you would have done as required : )
How would I look my friiends in the face if I didn't.
Aug 22nd, 2014 - 09:40 pm - Link - Report abuse 0If any survived!
It started from monkeys but this outbreak is 2500 miles from where it typically breakouts out. They could not figure out why. They suspected bats and tested them and it turns out bats carry the virus. So they suspect bats carried it that distance.
Aug 22nd, 2014 - 10:47 pm - Link - Report abuse 0It's sad to say, but I honestly believe before we see any positive action against this, we are going to have to see fatalities in the US, the UK, Germany or France.
Aug 22nd, 2014 - 10:56 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Sad fact, but nevertheless true.
@ 16 reality check
Aug 23rd, 2014 - 12:38 pm - Link - Report abuse 0It was always thus.
Today a brit has been diagnosed with Ebola ,
Aug 23rd, 2014 - 06:07 pm - Link - Report abuse 0one day my friends,, one day..
RC it the past, prior to this outbreaks, they have always been contained and relatively small in terms of case count and deaths. This one, this outbreak is by far more significant and sizable. In the past the largest sporadic outbreak was maybe like 400 cases and 200 deaths. Now we are talking almost 3000 cases and 1500 deaths. That is a large jump......not to mention that way in which it migrated. That in itself is what is so troubling.
Aug 24th, 2014 - 12:20 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Here is a thought outside of the box I hope our intelligence is exploring:
If a suicide bomber is will to blow himself, why not infect himself and fly around the world?
THAT....is scarier shit.
@19
Aug 24th, 2014 - 05:18 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Never thought of that before. Scary indeed.
Very scary, and a reality..
Aug 24th, 2014 - 06:44 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Though....they may be smart enough to know it's difficult to control nature and can backfire.....but who knows if they care.
Aug 24th, 2014 - 11:29 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Commenting for this story is now closed.
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